Building on its work to promote early childhood development and school-readiness as part of its Ready, Set, Go! initiative, Orleans Public Education Network (OPEN) partnered with VIET (Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training), Entergy, and United Way to bring New Orleans’ first Born Learning Trail to VIET’s Village de L’est community center.

The Born Learning Trail is an outdoor area specifically developed to help parents and children grow, play and learn together as they walk along the different steps of the path. Together, families sound out words, act out situations, sing songs and more. The trail that appears in Village de L’est is the first one in all of New Orleans, and the first one in the country to include signs in three languages: English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Village de L’est has a higher-than-average number of young children ranked as developmentally vulnerable on the Early Development Instrument scale, but still has limited access to high-quality and affordable early childhood resources. The trail is a stellar example of a community working to build solutions to immediate challenges while working towards systemic change: in this case, providing an open-to-the-public area that also promotes social interaction, communication skills, physical activity, and knowledge of letters, shapes, colors and numbers.

When OPEN’s Community Coordinator Saundra Reed first learned about the trail, a collaboration with VIET “immediately sprang to mind,” she said. VIET’s Executive Director Cyndi Nguyen has been diligently advocating for the community’s young people for years, demanding opportunities for kids who cannot demand them for themselves. Ms. Nguyen was excited to hear about this holistic approach to child development and volunteered her services and space on VIET’s community grounds in Village de L’est. United Way and Entergy were soon to follow, forming a partnership that worked together to realize the trail in a matter of months.

The ribboncutting and opening ceremony were attended by a wide spectrum of local educators, nonprofit leaders, civic officials, and community members. Entergy CEO Charles Rice spoke on the importance of partnership, while OPEN Executive Director Deirdre Johnson Burel clarified the purpose and intent of the Born Learning project. Orleans Parish School Board President Ira Thomas provided the keynote address, speaking on the intense value of cherishing our community’s children and providing them with every tool possible to reach their potential.

Pamela Rogers of the New Orleans Public Library East Regional Branch led a fiery rendition of the book “SHOUT IT OUT!” before a gathered class of kindergardeners from Einstein Charter School. As soon as the ribbon was snipped, they ran down the pathway to hop and jump along the steps to learning!

Early childhood development is a keystone component of overall life quality in our city, state, and country. Growing mountains of evidence suggest that these years are crucial in forming overall life skills and physical health. The Born Learning Trail gives parents and kids the opportunity to exercise and improve every component of whole-child wellness.

“OPEN is elated to have been a part of this project,” said Deirdre Johnson Burel. “When kids are engaged on every level, they come to school ready to not just learn but to excel.”

To read the initial Born Learning Trail press release and information sheet, click here.

To learn more about the Early Development Instrument, click here or here.

To learn more about Ready, Set, Go!, click here.

Find out more about NOLA’s first Born Learning Trail in the September issue of The Trumpet from Neighborhood Partnership Network!